In today's episode, that we'll get to in a moment, Romas and Daiva emphasized that even though in Lithuanian they have these words, you would never ask, kas tas? or kas ta? kas šitas? kas šita?, etcetera, when you don't know what something is.

In Lithuanian it's very simple. You would say,

what is this?

kas tai?

what is that?

kas tai?

what are these?

kas tai?

what are those?

kas tai?

You could say, kas tai yra? Or you could even say, kas čia, as in, what is this here? Or, kas ten, what is that there?

what is this here?

kas čia?

what is that?

kas ten?

what are these here?

kas čia?

what are those there?

kas ten?

Got it? It's very simple. If you don't know what something is, just ask,

kas tai?

kas čia?

kas ten?

But, hey, don't learn from my accented Lithuanian. In a moment you'll hear Daiva and Romas repeat all of this. Also, we'll leave a space after the English and before the Lithuanian so you can guess at the pronunciation.

Now I'll play our recording. I asked Daiva to read what I had typed, "kas yra šitas?"

Now we'll start the episode where Daiva is correcting me, telling me you wouldn't ask the question that way. Enjoy the show!

Hi there, I’m Jack and I’m Daiva and I'm Romas, and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language.

Where are you from, Daiva? I'm from Kaunas. Kaunas! Alright, they speak the best Lithuanian there, I hear.

I'm not sure. That's what I've been told! That's what people from Kaunas told me.

Is it okay if I record you for Lithuanian Out Loud? Yeah. Okay, great.

Today’s episode is a continuation of the last episode. Let’s get started.

Šitas or šita is the word for, this, as in, this near me. Šitas is masculine, šita is feminine. Now, let’s ask the question,

The reason we haven't published an episode for a few weeks is because my laptop crashed and I lost all the episode plans and all of the upcoming episode recordings; all gone, viskas. To complicate the situation, Raminta is in Vilnius and won't be back for a couple of weeks.

I was stranded without a plan and without any recordings.

Thankfully, Romas and Daiva offered to help and we recorded a couple of episodes that we threw together at the last minute. You'll hear Daiva in the background on this episode but you'll hear more of her on the next one.

In the recordings you might be able to tell I have a cold. My voice is rougher than usual.

Also, a listener wrote me saying he has created a Facebook page for Lithuanian Out Loud. So, if you're interested in Lithuanian Out Loud or Lithuania or the Lithuanian language you can join his group on Facebook. Please be aware that this page wasn't created by Raminta nor myself, we don't moderate it and you cannot reach us there. But, we think it's a great idea created by one of our fans. Thanks!

Oh, and one other listener asked if we could leave a pause during regular episodes after the English, but before the Lithuanian is spoken. She likes to guess on the pronunciation. In the past we used to do this but then I started to feel like it made the episodes drag. I hate to release boring episodes, but if it helps our listeners, we'll try to do it. We'll do it in today's episode so everyone can try to guess at the pronunciation before the native speaker says it.

Alright, I think that's it for now. On today's episode we discuss the Lithuanian words for this, that, these, those and that over there. Enjoy the program.

Hi there, I’m Jack and I’m Romas and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language.

Samogitia is the latin name for the Lithuanian region of Žemaitija, literally - lowlands. Žemaitija is one of the five ethnographic regions of Lithuania.

Žemaitija is located in western Lithuania. The people of Žemaitija speak Žemaičių kalba, a dialect of Lithuanian and the people are called Žemaičiai.

The most popular tourist destinations in Žemaitija are Palanga, Kretinga and Žemaičių Kalvarija.

Every July in the city of Žemaičių Kalvarija there is a festival called, The Big Žemaičių Kalvarija Church Festival . It attracts many tourists from all over Lithuania and abroad. It is one of the few "must visit" locations for Roman Catholics of Lithuania.

The coat of arms of Žemaitija depicts a black bear with silver claws and collar on a red shield topped with a crown.

Today‘s episode became so long we decided to cut it up into two parts. Here‘s part one...

Back in episode 51, Margarita said, “vadinasi “Double coffee.” She was talking about a coffee shop and she said it’s called, Double coffee. The word vadinasi translates as, “is named,” for example,

is named

vadinasi…

consequently…

vadinasi…

that is…

vadinasi…

that means…

vadinasi…

Be careful with vadinasi. I had thought vadinasi could be used like this, what is this called? It’s called a dictionary. What is that called? It’s called a bridge. You can’t use vadinasi this way. Vadinasi is used when you’re asking what is the name or title of a thing. For example, what is the name of the city? What is the title of the song?

the city is named Šiauliai

miestas vadinasi Šiauliai

the song is named “Love”

daina vadinasi „Meilė”

the country is named Lithuania

šalis vadinasi Lietuva

Now, if you just want to know the name of an object or a thing, such as a pencil, a table, a chair, etcetera, just ask like this…

what is it?

kas tai?

that is a lighthouse

tai yra švyturys

what is it?

kas tai yra?

that is a cemetery

tai yra kapinės

what is it?

kas tai yra?

that is a fire station

tai yra gaisrinė

what is it?

kas tai?

that is a fountain

tai yra fontanas

it’s more common in Lithuanian to say, kas tai yra instead of kas tas yra when asking a question

now let’s go over some ways to say, this, that, these and those in their masculine and feminine forms

that (masculine singular)

tas

those (masculine plural)

tie

that (feminine singular)

ta

those (feminine plural)

tos

this (masculine singular)

šitas

these (masculine plural)

šitie

this (feminine singular)

šita

these (feminine plural)

šitos

a word that is synonymous with šitas or šita is šis or ši

this (masculine singular)

šis

these (masculine plural)

šie

this (feminine singular)

ši

these (feminine plural)

šios

now the word that describes something distant

that over there (masculine)

anas

those over there (masculine)

anie

that over there (feminine)

ana

those over there (feminine)

anos

anas

ana

anie

or anos – there is no such word, nah, nah

like, how would you say, “those islands?”

tos salos

no, you never say anos

you never, you’ve never…

anos salos

okay

ah - anos salos – you could, but we never use it

anos salos

yeah, you could use anos salos

okay, you always have to add for explanation, not this one but that one

if you want to do that then it will be way, way easier

yes, well, we’re saying, now the word that describes something like distance

but they don’t usually use it by itself

you usually don’t use this word by itself – anas

you usually say this – ne šitas bet anas (not this, but that over there)

you usually say, ne tie, bet anie (not those, but those over there)

you say, ne šita bet ana (not this, but that over there)

but if you use only one word you use, tas - ta, you know…

ne tos, bet anos - then it would be fine

(not those, but those over there)

ne tos, bet anos

okay, let's do it

not this one, but that one over there (masculine)

ne šitas, bet anas

not these ones, but those over there (masculine)

ne šitie, bet anie

not this one, but that one over there (feminine)

ne šita, bet ana

not these ones, but those over there (feminine)

ne šitos, bet anos

it's good? yeah

okay, alright…

yeah, it's hardly ever used but that's okay

but in that case, in this sentence - combination, it is used

but, you almost never use anos, it's like a word…well, it's used a different way, anos